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Confused Rosters, and Happy Thoughts

A Confused Roster Process
I was going to do a post about the inconsistent nature of the Mets decision-making process this spring (Bobby Parnell needs to go to AAA to work on his breaking stuff, but Jenrry Mejia doesn’t) or that the team values having depth in the organization sometimes (Chris Carter goes to AAA, but Sean Green makes the roster, forcing the Mets to sacrifice Nelson Figueroa), but James K at Amazin Avenue essentially already wrote that post, so go read it here.

Mejia is Not Parnell
I’ve been on a Mejia/Parnell kick recently as guys who could/and already have had some success in an MLB bullpen without much besides a fastball. It’s not a perfect comparison, Mejia’s fastball is better and his breaking pitches have more potential. However, when I saw Parnell in ’08 in AA, and Mejia in ’09 in the AFL, Parnell threw more strikes with his secondary stuff. Anyway, compare their numbers in the upper minors. I’ve excluded Parnell’s few lousy starts with New Orleans in ’08 because, ahem, Mejia has never pitched at AAA. Note that Mejia’s walk rate was higher than Parnell’s at AA and double it in the AFL.

ERA

G/GS

IP

H

R

ER

HR

BB

SO

BB/9

SO/9

SO/BB

Parnell ’08

AA

4.30

24/24

127.2

126

66

61

14

57

91

4.03

6.44

1.60

Mejia
’08

AA

4.47

10/10

44.1

44

28

22

2

23

47

4.7

9.6

2.04

Parnell ’08

AFL

2.25

7/7

20.0

15

5

5

0

9

20

4.05

9.00

2.22

Mejia
’08

AFL

12.56

6/6

14.1

25

21

20

0

13

16

8.3

10.2

1.23

What’s going to happen against more patient MLB hitters? I have a guess and it involves the words …. option and Binghamton in the same sentence.

Even Dan Warthen told Adam Rubin at the new ESPNNY that Mejia’s breaking ball isn’t there yet:

There’s a lot of different options for a talent like this, because he does have a plus curveball. Now, the command of the curveball is well below major league average. But the pitch itself is above average, as is his changeup.

“He’s such an accomplished player,” gushed the scout. “He’s already making the routine plays routinely, and he can make the difficult ones as well. He’s a fast-forward defender who knows how to slow the game down and let things come to him.”

As for his offense, the scout also thought he’d be fine, as long as one tempers expectations: “He doesn’t have the tools to be a star, but he works the count, makes contact and should be more than good enough to hold his own.”

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It’s depressing that on Opening Day I’m having trouble having happy thoughts about the Mets after seeing that it wasn’t just a nightmare, they actually did break camp with Jenrry Mejia. It’s like being kicked in the jewels on your birthday.

I mean, I hope I’m wrong and Mejia defies convention and logic to become an elite starter despite losing 2+ years of valuable development time. I’m just having trouble, even as an unabashed optimist, seeing that happen.